Indigenous Data Sovereignty
Meets Modern Automation.
We help First Nations, Inuit, and Métis organizations automate their operations while keeping full Ownership, Control, Access, and Possession of their data. Your data stays sovereign. Your community stays in control.
Our Commitment to Indigenous Data Sovereignty
DigitalStaff recognizes Indigenous Data Sovereignty as an inherent right of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples. We operate on the traditional territories of the Anishinabek, Haudenosaunee, and Lunaapéewak peoples, and this recognition is foundational to how we build technology.
We do not treat data governance as a checkbox. Every automation, every dashboard, every AI system we build for Indigenous organizations is engineered from the ground up to protect the collective rights of the community. Our founder has completed formal OCAP® certification, and our team has direct experience working alongside First Nations governments to automate financial, human resource, and administrative systems.
Oscar ONeill — Founder & Director
Oscar has formally completed "The Fundamentals of OCAP®" training course administered by the First Nations Information Governance Centre (FNIGC) and holds OCAP® certification. With over a decade of experience in the technology sector and direct experience working with First Nations governments, Oscar brings verified competence in translating community data sharing agreements into hard-coded technical protocols and database architectures.
How We Uphold Each OCAP® Principle
Every pillar of OCAP® is mapped directly to our technical architecture, legal agreements, and operational practices
Ownership
A First Nation community owns its information collectively, just as an individual owns their personal data.
How DigitalStaff delivers this:
- ✓ 100% of all data, source code, and digital assets are transferred to your organization upon project completion
- ✓ Your data is never used to train external AI models or aggregated for secondary analytics
- ✓ All intellectual property rights remain permanently with your Nation or organization
Control
First Nations have the right to control all aspects of data management and research processes that affect them.
How DigitalStaff delivers this:
- ✓ Your organization is legally designated as the Data Controller in our Data Processing Agreement
- ✓ Granular role-based access controls (RBAC) let your leadership dictate exactly how data flows
- ✓ No subprocessing or data transfer to third parties without your explicit written consent
Access
First Nations people have the right to access information about themselves and their communities at all times.
How DigitalStaff delivers this:
- ✓ Your organization retains absolute administrative super-user rights to all systems we build
- ✓ You are never locked out of your own data by proprietary vendor restrictions
- ✓ You set and enforce the protocols governing who else can view or interact with your data
Possession
Physical control of data is the concrete mechanism through which Ownership is protected and asserted.
How DigitalStaff delivers this:
- ✓ 100% Canadian data residency — all data hosted exclusively in Canadian data centres
- ✓ AES-256 encryption at rest and TLS in transit, with decryption keys held exclusively by your organization
- ✓ Protection from foreign jurisdictional overreach, including the US CLOUD Act
A Distinctions-Based Approach
We recognize that First Nations, Métis, and Inuit communities each have distinct governance frameworks. We design technology to respect these differences — never a one-size-fits-all approach.
OCAP®
First Nations / FNIGC
Ownership, Control, Access, Possession
Strict physical data control, jurisdictional residency, absolute community ownership of code and data
OCAS
Métis National Council
Ownership, Control, Access, Stewardship
Relational reciprocity, disaggregated identity metrics, stewardship-focused data sharing agreements
IQ / NISR
Inuit / Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami
Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, Consensus, Capacity
Inuktut linguistic integration, consensus-driven access controls, regional infrastructure development
CARE Principles
Global Indigenous Data Alliance
Collective Benefit, Authority to Control, Responsibility, Ethics
Ethical AI design, prevention of collective algorithmic harm, ensuring community value from automation
Automation Services for Indigenous Organizations
Solutions we have delivered and continue to deliver for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis communities
Financial Job Costing Automation
Automate complex financial workflows, budgeting processes, and job costing systems tailored to band council and organizational accounting requirements.
HR Reporting & Workforce Management
Streamline human resource reporting, employee onboarding, and workforce analytics with automated dashboards and compliance tracking.
Medical Document Filing & Processing
Securely automate the intake, classification, and filing of health records and medical documents within PHIPA-compliant environments.
Custom CRM Systems
Purpose-built CRM platforms using PostgreSQL and Node.js, designed for community member management, program tracking, and service delivery.
AI Chatbots (Data-Isolated)
Enterprise-grade AI chatbots deployed on isolated infrastructure, ensuring community data never enters public AI training pipelines.
Enterprise AI Governance
Eliminate Shadow AI risks with governed enterprise AI platforms, acceptable use policies, and real-time compliance monitoring.
Custom Dashboards & Reporting
Interactive dashboards for Chief and Council, program directors, and administrators with real-time visibility into operations and outcomes.
Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
UiPath-powered RPA bots that automate repetitive administrative tasks, from data entry to report generation, freeing staff for higher-value work.
Data Governance & Legal Safeguards
Our Data Processing Agreement and Privacy Policy encode Indigenous data sovereignty into legally binding commitments
Data Controller Designation
Your organization is formally and legally designated as the Data Controller in our Data Processing Agreement. DigitalStaff acts exclusively as the Data Processor and cannot use your data for any purpose outside your documented instructions.
Anti-Subprocessing Guarantee
We are strictly prohibited from delegating processing tasks to third-party subcontractors or migrating data to alternative platforms without your explicit, prior written consent.
10-Day Data Deletion
Upon project completion or service termination, all copies of your data are systematically destroyed from all active servers, backups, and staging environments within 10 business days.
24-Hour Breach Notification
In the event of a suspected or confirmed data breach, we notify your organization within 24 hours, giving your leadership full control to manage the response and notify relevant commissioners.
PIPEDA & PHIPA Compliance
All operations comply with federal and provincial privacy legislation including PIPEDA, Quebec Law 25, and PHIPA for health information, as an absolute baseline.
Privacy Impact Assessments
We conduct culturally adapted PIAs that evaluate collective and systemic harm — not just individual privacy risk — before deploying any automation or AI system.
Eliminating Shadow AI Threats to Data Sovereignty
When staff use unauthorized consumer AI tools like public ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude, sensitive community data can be ingested into public training repositories owned by global technology companies. This represents an irreversible breach of Ownership and Control.
Audit & Discovery
We scan for all unauthorized AI tools currently in use and map data flow vulnerabilities across your organization.
Secure Platform Setup
We deploy enterprise-grade AI platforms configured to prevent your data from training provider models.
Policy & Access Controls
We implement acceptable use policies, SSO, role-based access, and centralized logging for all AI interactions.
Continuous Monitoring
Automated systems enforce compliance in real-time by blocking access to prohibited AI tools and tracking usage.
Human-in-the-Loop AI
We believe artificial intelligence should augment, not replace, human judgment. In every AI system we build, automated decisions — particularly those affecting resource allocation, human resources, or community health administration — are reviewed and authorized by designated community leaders or administrators before execution. AI handles the bulk processing. Your people retain final authority.
What our clients say
Chuck Baresich
President
Haggerty AgRobotics Company
Had the team prepare a system for us to automate the re-branding of our digital invoicing and statements. The system has been working flawlessly for over a year. Simple to administer and the team are easy to get in contact with make adjustments or update our requirements.
Marilee A Nowgesic
CEO
Canadian Indigenous Nurses Association
The team is friendly, reliable and extremely patient to ensuring our concerns are addressed and understood. They have enabled an open table to allow for their clients to receive timely (...really feels like 24/7 platforms...) and concise information on the latest trends in IT, data collection and many other relevant issues. DigitalStaff has also provided an environment that allows for multiple levels and skills of their clients - so you never have to feel like you're not contributing. Their ability to translate your project needs provides an impressive output/deliverable to suit the needs of our projects.
Kevin Potts
President
Norseman Construction
Oscar and his team are amazing, they are always there when we need them. The automation process has been truly amazing, and we have found alot more time and productivity in our day to day processes.
Kyle Watters
Owner
Elmira Stove Works
We have been using Digital Staff for almost 10 years now, they look after all of our network and computer IT needs. They are friendly and great people to work with, knowing they are only a phone call away is piece of mind in our business. I would highly recommend this company for all your IT needs and if you are looking to save time, money and improve efficiency.
Gerda Zonruiter
Senior Research and Evaluation Consultant
Centre for Organizational Effectiveness
Oscar has helped me problem solve and find solutions for specific tasks saving me a lot of time. He provided me with the instruction I needed to implement the solutions on my own. He was responsive and easy to work with.
Paul B Bélanger
Trademark Attorney
The Law Office of Paul B. Bélanger
I am familiar with the highly professional services of DigitalStaff. I resorted to the business services of DigitalStaff on numerous occasions, knowing they pay attention to provide high quality services at reasonable price. I recommend DigitalStaff in confidence knowing their specialized services will provide satisfaction to any client, small or large.
Jill Osborne
National Executive Director
Kids Kicking Cancer Canada
The DigitalStaff team helped create effective and affordable solutions for our small shop. They quickly gained an understanding of our needs and have helped us trouble-shoot along the way.
Michael Mandich
Customer
It was wonderful service. I found Oscar to be honest and thoughtful. He was always available to do even the smallest tasks. He tried to teach me many things on the computer and was patient even though I find it very difficult. I recommended him to friends and they had high praise for his abilities. It is easy to give him 5 stars ⭐️
Ali Tavakoli
AI, RPA, and Automation Developer
DigitalStaff
DigitalStaff is a great company for doing Robotic Process Automation, the owner is very friendly and can take care of any issues that come up very quickly. Highly recommend DigitalStaff for RPA workload or any other type of software development where you need to automate tasks.
Ilze Van der Merwe
National Expansion Manager
Kids Kicking Cancer Canada
Our Organization can highly recomend DigitalStaff. They have helped us automate many of our work processes which saves us time and makes us efficient. We are a small organization with few hands, and having DigitalStaff assist us in our IT and backend processes makes our work lighter which opens up our time to get to things that really matter, which is making a difference in Children's lives.
Dr. Joan Clayton
Psychologist
Dr. Reist & Associates
Excellent and prompt service, highly skilled, personable and always eager to help and resolve issues - ABSOLUTELY THE BEST
Joe Orendorff
Owner
Elmira Stove Works
Great Service!
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions from Indigenous organizations evaluating technology partners
What is OCAP® and how does DigitalStaff comply?
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Where is our data stored?
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Can we access and export all of our data at any time?
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What happens to our data when the project ends?
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Does DigitalStaff use our data to train AI models?
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Is Oscar ONeill OCAP® certified?
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Do you conduct Privacy Impact Assessments?
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Can you work with our existing band council or Tribal Council systems?
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Ready to Automate With Full Data Sovereignty?
Get a free consultation to discuss how we can help your First Nations, Inuit, or Métis organization automate operations while keeping your data fully under community control. No obligations, no data collected until you say so.
✓ OCAP® Certified • ✓ 100% Canadian Data • ✓ Community Ownership Guaranteed